We’re here at the International Startup Festival in Montreal and we’re going to be posting about some of the startups and cool companies. The first on our list is Urban Orca based in Toronto, Canada. The idea behind Urban Orca is pretty simple: “UrbanOrca helps you meet people with shared interests and do more of the things you love. Finally, the virtual world supports the real world.”
The startup comes at an ideal time when people are generally becoming more comfortable meeting strangers online and turning them into real-life friends. A good example of this is Tweetups where people who may only know each other on Twitter get together at a venue and chat in person.

Currently, Urban Orca is only a web service and they’re working on a mobile version. Going mobile is going to be pretty crucial to the company’s success as a lot of finding an activity partner would probably happen spontaneously while on the go or in a city you’re unfamiliar with. Another important feature for Urban Orca is going to be preventing it from becoming a site for sex and hookups. Currently, there isn’t much stopping someone from posting about wanting to “meet for a casual encounter” Craigslist-style.

Keep an eye on Urban Orca because it’s going to turn into a really fun service for discovering new cities and finding friends with similar interests.